Alone ... with God

HAVE you ever been in a dangerous situation with no one to turn to? Many of the characters of the Bible had to meet amazing opposition. There was Moses, who had to lead a slave nation into freedom; Elijah, who thought he was the only one left in the world who was faithful to God; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who were thrown into a red-hot furnace for being faithful to God; and Daniel, thrown into a den of lions for the same reason. In one way or another, all these people found freedom in knowing that right there where they were, so was God.

Recently a journalist from my country who had exposed crimes against humanity was taken captive. When I learned of this, I knew that right where he was, there was the most powerful influence for good that anyone could ever need-God, his true Parent.

In prayer, I reasoned that whether someone is aware of it or not, God is with him or her, and that loving good is loving God. This was really a prayer for the world, sparked by a world event. Surely my prayer, and those of others, contributed to the subsequent release of this captive individual.

Prayer is the most powerful tool that humankind has. Prayer should be unselfish, because it's no good telling God what to do. God knows all, and when we turn to Him in our difficulties-our own, or someone else's-we must first praise Him as the source of intelligence, comfort, and support. To look for the good of God, and to be grateful for it, no matter how small, is to adopt a state of mind that receives more good. Because God is all good, He knows only good. Therefore evil, no matter what its form, cannot harm or influence what God has made.

When we turn expectantly in prayer to God, and then trust Him, we can and will discern His perfect plan for us. We must be willing to listen and, perhaps most important of all, to expect an answer. To some, this answer has come as clearly as a voice, telling them what to do. To others, it has come as a Bible verse, by which they have received a directive to help them make a decision. To another, it could be a very strong prompting, sometimes repeated, that indicates the right decision to take. From there, events unfold in ways we could not have planned.

Christ Jesus truly lived a life of prayer, and walked with God. Apparently his every thought, word, and deed was inspired by his unity with God. The woman who founded this newspaper, Mary Baker Eddy, observed of Jesus that he didn't use "the world's weapons," even when he was taken prisoner and brought to trial. Of this Mrs. Eddy wrote: " 'He opened not his mouth.' The great demonstrator of Truth and Love was silent before envy and hate." This is found in the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 48). Jesus went through the grueling experience of crucifixion alone with God. His resurrection showed that no earthly power, dictator, government, or influence could dispute the might and omnipresence of the one Almighty God. Not even death could outweigh God's omnipotence. Jesus proved that there is only one Life, which is spiritual.

Christian Science reveals step by step that evil is not omnipotent, cannot imprison us or individualize itself as an evil person. It teaches us that we must look beyond human circumstances and discover what God knows. In another place, Science and Health says this: "Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, nothing claiming to be something,-for lust, dishonesty, selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery, murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all the etceteras that word includes" (p. 330).

I recall being enlightened once with the idea of what the English word alone means. The word could be split into all one-that is, something complete. Each of us is very precious to God, and free. Yes, God loves each of us with a love unmatched by human love. We can rejoice that His presence is ever with us, so we are always alone with Him-and complete.

You can find more articles that discuss prayer in the Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine.